This screenshot was taken from my Simrad running 17mph. I put this up here to show that with a properly installed transducer you can get clear readings at just about any speed under 40mph on not only sonar but also down scan and side scan. I have my map with GPS on the left, sonar in the middle, Down Scan on the right and Side Scan on the bottom of the page. I use this set up about 90 percent of the time giving me all the information I need. The map shows the channels in light brown, water less than 10 feet in the darker blue, waters 10 - 29 feet in the light blue and water over 30 feet in white. The yellow is land. The structure we are looking at is an underwater silo that was on a farmers land prior to the lake being filled. We have all driven by farms with the land dug out about 20 yards wide and 50 yards back filled with silage covered with a tarp and tires holding the tarp down. On the Side Scan you can see the ditch going out about 50 feet either direction.
In this shot I was running on plane seeing Stripers [shown in red] between 20 to 30 feet. Looking for fish at higher speeds all I am looking for is the red on the screen. The vertical black dots is simply a little motor noise, I like to keep my sensitivity high, I don't notice the noise. If I reduced my sensitivity I my not be able to distinguish the fish at speeds as well.
This pic is of a blown up railroad trestle showing the concrete laying on the bottom of the lake There are two schools of bait 30 feet down next to the concrete. The middle of the screen is my sonar in bottom lock showing the bottom 7 feet off the floor of the lake and the right side shows the whole picture of the water column. Notice how Down Scan shows the concrete laying on the bottom in Brown where the sonar did not distinguish that.
In this screen shot you don't see much on sonar but Side Scan showed fish near the bottom off to the right of the boat. You can also see the shadows further to the right which helps determine the size of the fish.
This is the same silo that is in a picture above but the boat was going only 2 mph. Notice the hard bottom and how distinct the walls are!
This is a shot of a bunch of different size fish in a school. Down Scan clearly shows again where the nicer fish are positioned in the school. Usually the most aggressive Stripers are in the front of the school as it moves and on top of the school. I set downlines out at 20 feet to catch the nicer fish, only smaller fish toward the bottom.
Come join us at the Richmond Fishing Expo Jan. 21 - 23 in the Greentop booth. We will have Simrad and Lowrance Products on display and for sale. We are there to help you with any questions you may have about your units and of course to assist you in purchasing the right product for your needs. We will also have a set up to help explain what you are seeing on these depth finders with pics we took off our units fishing Lake Anna. Stop by and say Hi, it will be too cold to be on the water this weekend! Lee Acors, myself, Anthony Hicks and Ed Hall along with Electronics Guru Steve Lane will be their to assist you. Hours are 9am to 7pm Friday and Saturday and 10 to 5 on Sunday. Meadow Event Park, Doswell, Va
This screenshot shows lots of 2 to 4 pound Stripers in 31 feet of water. I have put 4 different screens on my Simrad. The upper left is echo on Bottom Lock locked into 10 feet off the bottom. I use this screen to look into the schools to help determine the size of the fish, where the larger fish are located within the school and if they are active or not [Streaking]. The center screen is sonar in a 0 to 40 foot scale. The right screen is Down Scan with fish reveal which shows me the size of the fish as well but is better defined with color. The yellow fish are the largest, red smaller and blue smaller yet. The bottom screen is side scan which I always use up the entire width of the screen to get the best detail. The dark blue is the water under the boat then at 31 feet outward the beam shows details on the bottom and fish. Fish show up as vertical dashes on this screen and nicer keeper fish will have shadows twice as far out as the fish itself. Side Scan is probably the most important tool I use to locate fish or bait, to steer my boat to the larger fish or more numbers of fish and to determine the size of the bait or fish. Again these are smaller fish that I really am not interested in fishing due to the size of the arches, the lack of larger "Yellow"arches on Down Scan and the smaller vertical dashed out to the side of the boat.
Now in this shot I was looking for schools of Stripers running about 20 mph then started to see bunches of small red arches so I slowed down to 11mph and hit the Jackpot! When running the fish still show up as red arches but I am going over them so fast the arches are small. As I slow down the arches get bigger and more defined. Also notice my Side Scan. So many people say Side Scan does not work at speeds over plane but that obviously is not so. We locate fish on Side Scan up to about 25mph. Although small due to the speed I was running look how many fish were not only under the boat but off to the sides as well. Every little dot is a fish. We caught over 30 Stripers before loosing this school in about an hours time. I hope these screenshots will help you use your electronics to improve your fishing by understanding what you are looking at on your own units. When you book charters with us you will come off the water with better understandings of operating and interpreting your own Depth Finders. To shop the best units on the market check out electronics Guru Steve Lane at Greentop Sporting Goods. As always you can check us out at my websit at www.JimHemby.com of contact us at 540 223 0850 or Jim_Hemby@hotmail.com
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